Taking a look back: Second half of 2011

• Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Central School District Superintendent Daniel Teplesky announces he will leave the district for a similar job leading the Monticello School District in Sullivan County. Teplesky says he’s proud of the work the district accomplished in improving student achievement. The district launches a search for a new leader.

• Larry Deyss, the pastor at the Delmar Presbyterian Church for 30 years, steps down from the pulpit. Deyss, who was celebrated during an event at Normanside Country Club, says he has no special plans for retirement. The church selects Robert Foltz-Morrison as interim pastor.

• The five fire departments that serve Bethlehem, along with parts of Guilderland and New Scotland, band together for a study aimed at maximizing efficiency and promoting collaboration. Fire officials ask residents to complete an online survey about the fire service they receive in their neighborhoods.

• The Delmar Fire Department celebrates its 100th anniversary. The department, which started in 1911 with a single, horse-drawn hose cart, remains all volunteer as it did in the beginning of the 20th century.

• The Bethlehem Police Department puts two officers on two wheels with the establishment of bike units to patrol the town during the summer. Chief Louis Corsi says the department has considered the idea in the past, but with growing amounts of development over the past two years, he says the idea now makes more sense than ever.

• The state Department of Environmental Conservation accepts the final environmental impact statement (FEIS) for a modernization project at the Lafarge cement plant in Ravena. It’s a significant step forward for the $400 million dollar project, which consists of a replacement of the facility’s wet kiln with a more efficient dry kiln. Later in the month, the DEC issues air and water discharge permits needed for the project.

• Bethlehem supervisor candidate John Clarkson gains the endorsement of the Conservative Party and turns down the endorsement of the Working Families Party. Clarkson files 850 signatures to primary Kyle Kotary on the Democratic line in September.

• Challenges are filed to Clarkson’s petition to be included in the Democratic primary. Steven Thomas, who filed the challenge, says he and members of the town’s Democratic Committee reviewed Clarkson’s petition signatures and found various errors. Kotary says he has asked all his Democratic supporters to not object to Clarkson’s petitions.

• Kotary files a lawsuit seeking to invalidate Clarkson’s Conservative Party nomination on the grounds of improper notarization. Clarkson questions the motive of the lawsuit, while Kotary raises questions about a “shady, midnight deal” to get Clarkson on the Conservative Party line.

• The Working Families Party makes a new choice in the race for supervisor of Bethlehem. Richard Reeves-Ellington gains the endorsement of the party, which first backed Messina, then was notified that Clarkson would not accept its endorsement.

• The Bethlehem Town Board gives approval to the Bethlehem Babe Ruth league for construction of a large shed at the town’s Elm Avenue Park. Construction of the shed started when league officials obtained a building permit from the town, however, it was halted when town officials realized the work had started without the board’s approval.

• At its yearly organizational meeting, the Bethlehem Central Board of Education appoints Diane Giacone-Stever as president and Matt Downey as vice president for the 2011-12 school year. Stever, who was vice president the previous year, takes over for James Dering, who did not seek another three-year term in the May election.

• Guilderland Town Clerk Rosemary Centi notifies Supervisor Kenneth Runion that she will no longer serve as the town’s marriage officer. Centi cites her Catholic faith as the reason for the decision. In July, a new state law took effect allowing same-sex couples to marry. Centi will continue to issue marriage licenses but won’t officiate over any ceremonies at Town Hall.

• The search for a new superintendent of the Bethlehem Central School District is narrowed down to three candidates. Board of Education members prepare to interview the final candidates chosen from a pool of 40 applicants.

• Army Specialist Rafael Nieves, 22, is remembered during a service at McKownville United Methodist Church in Guilderland. Nieves, a 2008 Guilderland High School graduate, was killed in Afghanistan when his mounted patrol unit came under attack by enemy forces. Nieves joined the Army in 2009.

August

• Elisabeth Smith, the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction in the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Central School District, is chosen as interim superintendent. Smith takes over for Daniel Teplesky, whose resignation took effect at the beginning of the month. A search for a permanent replacement continues.

• Albany County Supreme Court Judge Thomas McNamara rules in favor of Kyle Kotary’s lawsuit seeking to invalidate the Conservative Party’s endorsement of John Clarkson for supervisor. Instead of leaving Conservatives without a candidate, members of the party will have an opportunity to write in a candidate of their choice in a September primary.

• Campaign finance filings show Kotary with more than four times the fundraising money as Clarkson weeks before the Democratic primary. Kotary criticizes Clarkson for not meeting deadlines to file campaign finance information, saying he has properly and punctually filed his public statements. Clarkson says his campaign is filing all information properly, and had a problem with a PIN number needed to file his information electronically with the state Board of Elections.

• In a split vote, the Bethlehem Town Board votes down a proposal to hold a public hearing on a proposal to extend the supervisor’s term from two to four years. Kotary and Supervisor Sam Messina vote to advance the proposal, with board members Joann Dawson, Mark Hennessey and Mark Jordan voting it down.

• At the same meeting, Messina is the only one to support the use of $35,000 for repairs to the tennis courts at the Elm Avenue Park. The four other board members express concern about using money from a parkland set aside fund. Dawson says it would be a moral violation of the purpose of that money.

• Board members agree to amend Bethlehem’s noise ordinance. The new regulations exempt businesses that were already in operation when the town adopted its noise law in 2009. New businesses will have to consider noise regulations when they appear before the town’s Planning Board.

• A ruptured natural gas line along the Thruway in Guilderland leads to a highway closure and evacuations. The 12-inch gas main makes a loud noise alerting those nearby of the problem. The Thruway, between exits 23 and 24, is shut down, and several dozen people in nearby businesses and homes are evacuated until the problem is fixed. One construction worker suffers a minor injury.

• Two local developers unveil their plans to build a travel plaza just south of the exit 22 tollbooths along the Thruway. The project would include construction of a small hotel, travel center and fast food-type restaurant along River Road.

• The 188th Altamont Fair is held, but bad weather hampers attendance on several days of the event. However, organizers say turnout remained strong at the fair, which featured the North American debut of The Stinger, a ride that spins fairgoers around and send them eight stories into the air.

• 504 Regents exams taken by Guilderland Central School District students are found to have been graded incorrectly. 15 of the students who would have received failing grades if the test was graded properly will retain their passing grade. Superintendent Marie Wiles says the errors were mostly tabulation mistakes.

• The Town of Bethlehem receives no appropriate bidders for a project to install solar panels at the Elm Avenue Park. The project, which would be funded with $111,500 of Recovery Act money, hits a snag when none of the bidders submit proposals within the amount and limitations of the federal award.

• Josh Cansler, the Town of Bethlehem’s Commissioner of Public Works, announces he will leave the department for a job with NATO in the Netherlands. Deputy Commissioner Erik Deyoe takes over as interim commissioner.

• A draft Bethlehem budget calls for $38.6 million in spending and a 1.27 percent tax hike. The budget, prepared by Supervisor Sam Messina and Comptroller Suzanne Traylor, calls for no raises for town employees, and factors in a $1.75 million loss in PILOT receipts in 2013.

• Downgraded from a hurricane, Tropical Storm Irene packs a serious punch as it sweeps through the northeast, including the Capital District. Bethlehem Highway Department Superintendent Gregg Sagendorph tells The Spotlight that in his 39 years with the town, he has never seen water higher in some of the town’s streams than he did during the storm.

• A Clarksville woman dies after being swept into the Onesquethaw Creek during Irene. Police say Sharon Stein, 68, was last seen loading belongings into a car as she and her husband prepared to evacuate their Slingerlands Avenue home. Stein’s body was spotted more than four hours after she was reported missing by her husband.

• In Guilderland, two people are rescued from their home on Johnson Road after the Normanskill floods. Another couple is pulled from the Normanskill after their car becomes submerged in the water. The couple was swept away and was able to grab onto a tree, where they waited for nearly 2 1/2 hours before a nearby resident heard their cries and called authorities.

September

• Towns across the region try to assess the damage done by Tropical Storm Irene. Erik Deyoe, Bethlehem’s deputy commissioner of public works, says some of the town’s sewer facilities can’t even be assessed due to high water levels. Water facilities in New Scotland are badly damaged as well.

• Henry Hudson Park in Selkirk sustains significant damage. A fishing pier is hit hard, and a tree falls through a pavilion at the park. In South Bethlehem, rushing water damaged the abutment of an old railroad bridge, which will likely have to be removed.

• The Spotlight and League of Women Voters sponsor a highly anticipated debate between John Clarkson and Kyle Kotary, the two Democratic candidates for Bethlehem supervisor. Clarkson accuses Kotary of “a general pattern of obstruction” toward the agenda of Supervisor Sam Messina. Kotary touts his record, saying it is important to speak up and be accounted for when you have a difference of opinion.

• With more than 60 percent of Democratic voters supporting him, Clarkson wins a primary against Kotary, saying he is looking forward to unifying the Democratic Party. Kotary decides to continue his campaign, running on the Republican and Independence lines.

• The Town of Bethlehem Fire Officers Association holds a vigil and prayer service on the tenth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The ceremony is held at the Bethlehem Firefighters and EMS Park next to the Slingerlands Fire Department. A prayer service is also held at the Selkirk Company No. 2 in Glenmont. The event starts at 8:46 a.m, the time that Flight 11 crashed into the World Trade Center, and concludes at 10:28 a.m., the time when the north tower collapsed.

• The state Court of Appeals hears arguments in the case of Christopher Porco, the man found guilty in 2006 of murdering his father and attempting to murder his mother inside the family’s Bethlehem home. The appeal focuses on a head nod by Joan Porco the night of the attack when she was asked if her son was the assailant. Joan Porco claimed no memory of the head nod during the 2006 trial.

• Later in the month, the Bethlehem Town Board considers a Freedom of Information Law request by Christopher Porco. The board votes 2-2 on an appeal request by Porco, who previously failed to obtain copies of all materials related to the murder investigation that led to his conviction. The split vote means no response will be issued to Porco’s appeal, which is effectively a refusal of the new request.

• A disaster recovery center is established in Voorheesville for residents impacted by Irene. Federal, state and county services are provided at the center at the Cornell Cooperative Extension.

• In an example of the outpouring of support in the wake of August storms, members of the Delmar United Methodist Church load up two delivery trucks filled with household supplies, from rugs to sofas, and deliver them to residents of Schoharie County impacted by Irene. The church collects items from donations for its fall fair and reaches out to the community for items as well.

• A Guilderland woman is rescued after suffering a leg injury while hiking in the Adirondacks. Andrea Bakic, 23, sustained the injury while hiking on the side of Algonquin Mountain and was rescued by rangers more than four hours later.

• The first-ever reported case of West Nile Virus in Albany County is announced to the public. County health officials release few details, but say the person is over 60 and was hospitalized for a short time. Officials link the incident to the amount of standing water brought on by flooding from Tropical Storm Irene.

• The parents of Jonathan Carey receive $5 million in a settlement over the wrongful death of their son. Michael and Lisa Carey brought a suit against Edwin Tirado and Nadeem Mall, two caregivers at OD Heck, a state facility for the disabled. The men were caring for the boy, who was autistic, when he was asphyxiated and died on an outing.

• A fire burns down a shed owned by Bethlehem Pop Warner near the Bethlehem Central Middle School. It’s the latest in a string of acts of vandalism to district property, including playground equipment, gardens and property at many of the district’s schools. The shed fire is investigated as arson and a 13-year-old is later arrested.

October

• Acting Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple first pitches an idea to the Bethlehem Central School District regarding the use of Clarksville Elementary. Apple says he’s interested in leasing space at the shuttered school for use as a substation. If approved, the Sheriff’s Office would relocate from its space at the Cornell Cooperative Extension facility in Voorheesville.

• Apple says later in the month that he has had multiple conversations with members of the district regarding the proposal. BC Schools Superintendent Michael Tebbano says he’s unaware of the conversations, adding that Apple has avoided a face-to-face meeting.

• Albany County Executive Michael Breslin unveils a preliminary budget proposal for 2012, which calls for a 19.2 percent property tax hike for residents. Breslin calls it the difficult and right thing to do. The budget would eliminate 89 vacant positions in an attempt to avoid layoffs.

• An independent audit of the BC Schools shows a declining fund balance and growing expenditures due to increased employee benefit costs. The audit shows a $2.4 million loss in revenues, and notes the district will have to pass its first budget for the 2012-2013 school year with a 2 percent property tax cap in place.

• Residents of Bethlehem express concerns over traffic impacts and question the need for more apartments during a public scoping session for the proposed Wemple Corners project in Glenmont. The large hamlet-style development at the corner of Route 9W and Wemple Road would include commercial and residential space. Town officials also speak at the meeting about the logistics of zoning such a large project.

• Members of a private citizens group known as Bethlehem Tomorrow address Town Board members about proposals to negotiate agreements with landowners or buy property outright in an attempt to preserve open space. Some refer to the suggestions as a potential “government land grab,” while others call it “irresponsible” for the town to not have some type of open space program.

• The state’s Court of Appeals upholds the conviction of Christopher Porco. In the decision, the court cites “overwhelming evidence” that put Porco at his parents’ house at the time the crimes were committed in 2004. As for a controversial head nod that was at the center of the appeal, the court says any error regarding the allowance of the nod as evidence was “harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.”

• Notable Bethlehem police officer Christopher Hughes is charged with possession of a forged instrument. State Police say Hughes submitted a forged police retirement ID to a Kentucky-based company for processing. A search warrant was executed at Hughes’ home in Feura Bush in March.

• Delmar resident Dr. David Krischer returns to the area after a 4,874-mile trip across the country on his bicycle. Krischer, who began the trip for his own reasons, turned the voyage into a fundraising effort for the family of Anita Mullaney, a former nurse in Krischer’s office, who passed away from cancer in September. The ride raises close to $3,000 for the family.

• Candidates for Bethlehem town offices participate in a debate sponsored by The Spotlight and the Albany County League of Women Voters. Supervisor candidates John Clarkson, Kyle Kotary and Richard Reeves-Ellington debate issues ranging from housing to open space. Four candidates for two Town Board seats debate what to do to spur economic development in the town while shedding an “anti-business” label. The standing room-only crowd at the Town Hall auditorium also hears from candidates for Bethlehem Receiver of Taxes and the 36th District seat on the Albany County Legislature.

• Bethlehem Supervisor Sam Messina and State Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin write to Congressman Paul Tonko explaining their reasons why the South Bethlehem Post Office should be saved. The office is one of thousands under consideration for closure as part of a nationwide review being conducted by USPS, which is billions in the red.

• State Department of Environmental Conservation officials confirm the first sighting of an Emerald Ash Borer in Albany County in Selkirk. Infestations of the invasive species, which can kill ash trees, have led to quarantines in neighboring Greene County.

• An animal care facility in Slingerlands makes plenty of headlines after caring for a bald eagle shot in Columbia County. The Animal Hospital takes in the animal after it suffers critical wounds after being shot at the Nutten Hook State Unique Area in Stuyvesant. The bird, which has taken on the name “Spirit,” makes slow progress as doctors monitor a badly broken wing.

November

• Slingerlands resident John Clarkson is elected as the next supervisor of the Town of Bethlehem. Clarkson defeats Kyle Kotary and Richard Reeves-Ellington, saying he thinks the town can make progress moving forward. Incumbent Town Board member Joann Dawson wins another term in office, while newcomer Jeffrey Kuhn wins the race for a second seat on the board. In January, another seat will open up, as Councilman Mark Jordan ran unopposed for Town Justice, and will fill that role beginning in 2012.

• The Bethlehem Industrial Development Agency adopts a resolution for the first tax breaks to be granted to tenants at the Vista Technology Campus. In all, the PILOT agreements, or payments in lieu of taxes, will add up to about $200,000 in tax breaks for ShopRite, SEFCU and Berkshire Bank – the first three tenants at the park. The businesses will be exempt from paying property taxes for their first two years, and will pay a sliding scale of taxes over the following ten years.

• A second attempt leads to a contract for a project to install solar panels at Elm Avenue Park in Bethlehem. The town awards a $100,000 contract to a central New York company for installation of the panels. The town will contribute a small amount, with the rest of the money coming from a Recovery Act award to Bethlehem.

• Residents of the Kenwood Manor senior facility in Delmar gather for a Veterans Day tribute. About 20 seniors who previously served in the military are honored during a service attended by Albany County Executive Michael Breslin.

• Work wraps up on the portion of the parapet wall at Bethlehem Town Hall that fell earlier in the year. Supervisor Sam Messina says the cost of repairs for that portion of the building came to $345,000. That’s in addition to $61,000 worth of emergency repairs done before the complete project was approved.

• The Onesquethaw-Coeymans Watershed Council holds a public meeting to hear input from area residents impacted by Tropical Storm Irene. Council members are attempting to raise public awareness of growing flooding problems along the Onesquethaw and Coeymans Creeks.

• Three BC High School students are sent to the hospital for apparent in-school drug overdoses. A 16-year-old is accused of selling methadone to the three students. In all, five students are arrested during the week of the Thanksgiving holiday on various drug-related charges. The incidents set off a effort by administrators to address the issue of drug use with the student body and the public.

• The Town of Bethlehem applies for and is granted a $1 million loan from the state for repairs to infrastructure damaged during Tropical Storm Irene. The town can pay the money back with money from FEMA or over a period of time as a long-term loan.

• Normanside Country Club Inc. officially declares Chapter 7 bankruptcy. It’s the final step for the former owners of the club, who have just under $275,000 in outstanding debt.

• A study of Bethlehem’s fire departments is released, and the findings show room for improvement and possible consolidation. The study calls for uniformity among departments and use of equipments, and suggests that departments could be consolidated into one within 10 years.

• The Guilderland Central School District declares impasse in its contract talks with its teachers union. The declaration is required before a state-appointed mediator can assist with talks between the district and the Guilderland Teachers Association.

December

• A public meeting is held to gather input on the future of the New Scotland hamlet. About 60 residents give ideas on pedestrian access and development in the area centered around the intersection of Route 85 and 85A.

• The fifth annual Bethlehem Holiday Parade is held on Delaware Avenue in Delmar. Hundreds attend the Friday night parade, which ends with the lighting of a Christmas tree at the Four Corners.

• The Bethlehem Soccer Club announces plans for an indoor soccer facility along Wemple Road have been scaled back. Plans for The Soccerplex facility will be cut in half, with completion possible in 2013.

• BC Superintendent Michael Tebbano asks the Board of Education to allow review of costs for installation of security cameras at BC High and the district’s Operations and Maintenance facility. This follows November drug and graffiti incidents and a string of vandalisms to district property over the summer.

• The BC school board hears the proposed terms of leasing out Clarksville Elementary to the Albany County Sheriff’s Office. A five-year agreement would be in place, resulting in $210,000 in revenue for the district. Board members will likely vote on the proposal in the new year.

• Tebbano ends a 2 1/2 year run as BCSD Superintendent. He says his toughest decision was the one to close Clarksville, saying that he knows the decision, based on declining enrollment, “hurt a lot of people.”

• A ceremonial groundbreaking is held at the Vista Technology Campus. About 100 people attend the event held at the site off Route 85 in Slingerlands.

• $4.3 million is the cost of damage done by Tropical Storm Irene to the town of Bethlehem’s infrastructure. The town is in conversations with FEMA, which will pay for 75 percent of repairs, with the town and state splitting the rest of the costs.

• Voters approve an expansion projects for the Slingerlands Fire District. The 105-32 vote makes way for work to begin in 2012 on the firehouse along New Scotland Road.

• Bethlehem Supervisor Sam Messina ends his two-year term in office. He says the decision not to run for reelection was the toughest he made. Messina says he knew reelection would be grueling and very expensive without the support of a major political party.

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